Signal switch



Oct. 4 1927.

A. E. MILLER SIGNAL swITcH Filed ov.12, 1924 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 ATTORNEY 4.

0t 4 1927' A'. E. MILLER SIGNAL swITcH Filed Nov.12, 1924 2 sheets-sheet 2 IN V EN TOR.

R E W um M .l 0 www E A R m U c H l T R w HY Patented Oct. 4, 1927.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ARTHUR E. MILLER, 0F SACRAMENTO, CALHORNIA.

SIGNAL SWITCH.

L Application led November 12, 1924. Serial No. 749,536.

matically when the steering gear of the car I is operated to direct' the car to either the right or to the left.

Another object is to produce a device of this character which will also be manually operated.

An additional object of this invention. is to provide a device of this character which will automatically release the signaling device as soon as'the steering gear has been turned so as to cause the car to g'o straight ahead.

A still further object of this is to provide a device which is construction and one which is cheap to manufacture. U

Another object is to provide means for making the device inoperativewhen the car invention simple in therefore is rounding a long curve or otherwise whenA desired.

Other objects and advantages will be apparent during the course of the following description. l A' In the accompanying drawings iorming a part of this specification, and in which like numerals are employed to designate like parts throughout the same,

Figure I is a top plan view of my device with the cover removed and showing a steering column in .cross section,

Figure II is a cross section takenon the line 2-2 of Figure 1,

Figure III is an enlarged detail View showing the' latch arrangement for tne contact arms, p v

Figure IV is an enlarged detail View taken on the line 4 4 of Figure 1,l

Figure V is a side elevation of Figure 4,

Figure VI is a bottom plan view of the actuating cam, and v Figure VII is a side elevation'looking 1n the direction of the arrow 7.

' At the present time there are many form of switching devices on'the market which are manually operated, that is, a switch manually controls the lighting orextinguishing of a light or a portion of the sema phore. It is my intention to provide a device which 'will beV secured to the car in such a manner that'the steering mechanism will automatically complete the electrical circuit necessary to operate'the signaling mechanism.

This I have accomplished by providing a cup-shaped member comprising two sections 5 and 6, which are joined together as by screws 7 and 8. This cup is preferably made of an insulating material and is attached to the shell of the steering column of an automobile. This shell is designated at 9.

A cover 11 is employed to protect the working parts of my device, and a ledge 12 vis formed on one portion of the box and from this point on we will now consider thel boxas a Whole, disregarding the fact that it is made of two sections. Y

Pivotally mounted upon this ledge, as at 13 and 14 are levers 16 and 17 respectively, and by viewing Figure 1, it will be noted that the handle portionof these levers extends through slots 15 and 18, respectively, so as to be readily grasped for manually operating my device, as will be hereinafter described.. These levers are electrically connected as at 19 and a Wire 21 is carried to a suitable ground.

i At 22 I have shown a spring connected i to each of the levers 16 and A17, as both sides of my vdevice are identical, I will describe the operation of the lever 17 and its associated parts. I

At 23 ,I have shown a spring having a bend 24 therein and having one end underlying the lever 17, as best shown in Figures 2 and 3. The opposite end of this spring is securely attached to the cup and when the lever 17 is moved to its dotted line position of Figure 3, this spring will move to its dotted line position of this figure and retain the lever in the dotted line position of Figure l. At this time .the lever will engage the contact 26 carried on the end of a bell crank 27. This bell crank is pivoted at 28 and is operated by a rod 29 having a push-button 3l attached thereto.

The long arm of 'the bell crank lever 27 is resilient, with the result that when moved out of engagement with, its support 32, it will drop,l as shown in dotted lines in Figure 5, thus breaking the contact between the lever 17 and the contact 26. Attached to the lever 17 is a retrieving arm 33 which has a down-turned end 34 adapted to engage the bell-crank lever 27 and cause it to move over the cam surface 36 of the support4 32, back to its normal position.

In order to automatically move the levers 16 and 17, I. provide an actuating cam consisting of semi-circular sections 37 and 38, secured one to the other by suitable screws 39 and having formed thereon a cam surface. These semi-circular portions when fastened together, present an appearance as shown in Figure 6, Where it will be noted that the cam surfaces join and form an outwardly projecting cam 41 and by viewing Figure 7, it will be noted that there are also downwardly projecting cams 42 and 43. It will further be noted that by viewing Figure 6, the cams 42 and 43 are offset from each other or in other Words, are so positioned as to describe concentric circular paths of different radii when the steering post is rotated. By again referring to Figure 1, it will be noted that the right hand spring 23 is longer than the left hand spring 23 and has an upturned end 44, the purpose of which is to insure roper operation of said spring members byV their respective cams, and to prevent both spring members being operated by the same cam. The actuating cam 41 is pinned to the steering column'designated at 46, as by a pin 47 and a portion of the shell 9 is cut away or cut so as to rotate with the cam ring (see Figure 2). It is, of course, understood that this device may be attached to the base of the steering wheel, or may be attached to the steering column just beneath the dash.

At 20 I have shown buttons attached to the springs 23A and extending through the cover of the cup members, t e purpose of which is to permit downward ressure to be exerted upon the springs 23 w en desired to release the levers 16 or 17 as the case may be, permitting them to return to their normal position.

The operation of my device is as follows Assumin 'that the arts are arran ed as shown in igure 1 and the driver wis es to turn to the left, the lever 17 is initially moved manually to and set in its dotted line position, causing contact and operation of signal as hereinafter indicated. However, if the operator does not move the handle 17 manually the first few degrees of turn of the steering Wheel will cause the cam 41 to engage the lever 17 and move it into contact with the contact 26, which will complete the circuit from the wire 30 to the ground `wire 21, and light the signal light or operate the signal device, as the case may be.

When and as the driver moves his steering wheel so as to cause the car to move again into a straight direction, the cam 41 will move out of engagement with the lever 17 and at the same time, the cam 43 will bear down upon the end of thespring 23, so as to disengage the spring from the lever 17, with the result that the spring 22 will cause the lever 17 to return to its normal position.

It may be thought desirable to render the signal temporarily inoperative, thus if proceeding around a mountain road having a long curve and it is not desired to keep the signal burning or displayed throu hout the entire curve, the operator pushes t e button 31, with the result that the bell-crank lever 27 pivots upon its pivot 28 and moves to the left of the drawing, as shown in Figure 4, which will result in the end of the bellcrank lever passing off of its support 32 and dropping to the dotted line position of Figure 5. As soon as this occurs, the Contact will be broken with the lever 17.

When and as the lever 17 is returned to its normal position the retrieving arm 33 will cause the end of the bell-crank lever to cam upon its supportV 32 and thusymove into its normal position, ready to again be contacted, when the lever 17 is again moved toward it. It is, of course, understood that the button 31 is only employed when it is desired to break the electrical circuit, after the signal has been rst given and during the remainder of the time that the curve is being executed. Y

The cam 42 will operate on the upturned end 44 of the right hand spring 23 when the cam 41 is turned to the right of the drawing. The purpose of having the right hand spring longer than the left hand s ring and its end 44 upturned is so that t e right hand -spring 23 will not be depressed by the cam 43 should the wheel make a revolution far enough to bring the cam'43 thereover, and the urpose in having the opposite spring 23 s orter is so that cam 42 will not come into contact therewith.

A common make of break-switch may be included in the circuit to make the device inoperative when desired.

It will thus be seen that with the device as above described, I can accomplish all of the objects above set forth.

It is to be understood that the form of my invention herewith lshown and described isv to be taken as a preferred example of the same, and that various changes inthe shape, size and arrangement of parts may be resorted to Without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of theA subjoined claim.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:-

In a device of the character described, a cup adapted to be attached to the steering column of an automobile, a pair of levers pivotally mounted in said cup and extending on opposite sides of said column, and to a point beyond the outer margin of said cup, springs positioned in said cu s and englaging each of said levers, said springs aving an offset therein, one of said springs having an upturned end, a cam positioned on the steering column and adapted to be rotated by the steering Wheel, said cam being adapted to move either of said levers independently, means carried on said camfor releasmg said springs from engagement to permit said levers returning to their normal position, 

